Since the European Parliament voted in favor of banning thermal cars by 2035 last June, battery-powered gigafactory projects have multiplied. But how can we be sure to operate these factories at full capacity if the supply of raw materials is not secure? This is the challenge of the creation of the new French observatory of mineral resources for the industrial sectors.
Too much reliance on metal imports
“The observatory is not intended to carry out geological investigations or to work on new mining projects” but to carry out “strategic and technical-economic monitoring”, indicates Christophe Poinssot, deputy director general of the Office of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), the tip spearhead of the new observatory.
Cobalt, nickel, rare earths… France, and more broadly Europe, produces almost no critical metals and has to import almost everything as needs increase and tensions over critical metals are just beginning.
Taking the example of lithium, necessary for the batteries of electric cars, Christophe Poinssot explains that the observatory will seek to “know where the resources are, the refining capacities, the projects that the big mining players have in mind” and “what It will emerge in the end of 5 or 10 years”.
“There is a feeling that metals and mining and heavy industry are no longer needed, which is wrong, these activities are carried out abroad and we are very dependent on them”, the idea is also “to relocate part of it”. to the territory, according to Christophe Poinssot.
Better anticipate the risks of supply interruptions
The new observatory, co-financed by public authorities and the private sector, brings together the group of French aeronautical and space industries (Gifas), the automotive platform (PFA) and the Alliance of mines, minerals and metals.
The objective, he specifies, is “to provide various tools to the industrial sectors and public administrations”. The first is to map global supply, the second to assess the scope of needs and the third to analyze the “risks of supply disruption of political, climate and environmental origin”, details Christophe Poinssot.
The National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM), the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the French Petroleum Institute (IFPEN), the Agency for the Environment and Energy Control (Ademe) and the IFRI are also partners. (French Institute of International Relations), for the geopolitical dimension.
The observatory also aspires to a European dimension. “Everyone is waking up to the issue,” observes Christophe Poinssot, who points out that Ofremi is already “in the process of building an alliance with its German counterpart,” the DERA.
Source: BFM TV
